Guinness World Record: Nigerians Tore The Book

The moment most Nigerians had predicted finally came to pass as the Guinness World Record (GWR) warned against further “record-a-thon”. While responding to a Nigerian Twitter user, @livingwithajoke, GWR, who has encountered a handful of Nigerians attempting to break diverse records, urged Nigerians to let the record breathe.

From the point a Nigerian chef, Hilda Baci, was celebrated for breaking the record for the longest cooking time, there has been a surge in Nigerians showcasing a lot of skills. But mostly, the culinary skills.

Some Nigerians at the early stage warned that the surge could “tear the book”, but instead of a reduction in the number of people making attempts, Guinness World Record kept receiving an increase in the number of Nigerians interested in breaking one record or the other.

One may tie the numerous attempts to the competitive nature of Nigerians. The period Baci attempted to break the record in Lagos may be described as a “unity period” for the country; both young and old, dark and fair, tall and short celebrated the Akwa Ibom-born chef. Notable politicians like the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, showed up at the venue, Amore Gardens, Lekki to meet with Hilda. The venue was also swarmed by celebrities, VIPs, famous persons and fans of the chef.

Since that experience, Guinness World Record has recorded a pandemic of records-a-thon by Nigerians, the first of it being Chef Damilola Adeparusi, who competed in the same segment with Hilda Baci.

The news of Chef Dammy attempting to cook for 120 hours to displace the then-incoming Nigerian champion who cooked for 93 hours and 11 minutes was welcomed with mixed reactions. While some people bashed her for not waiting for Baci to be announced before jumping on the trend, others argued in favour of Damilola. However, her hope of displacing Baci was cut short by the GWR, who said she did not follow due process before setting out.

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One other individual worthy of mention is Chef Deo from Ondo State who recently completed the challenge of the longest cooking hours (150 hours). Unlike Damilola from Ekiti, Deo revealed that she had informed GWR of her intention and received the green light before commencing the cook-a-thon.

Also, a Nigerian masseur, Joyce Ijeoma, collapsed during a 72-hour longest massage on different individuals in Lekki, Lagos State.

Popular comedian, Woli Arole, at a time, shared his plan to pray for 5,000 hours to break the record for the longest praying time while another lady, identified as Big_treshlyn, announced on Instagram that she will be embarking on a contest to be on a live video for 125 hours to break the Guinness World Record.

Adebiyi Israel, a native of Ekiti State, who shared a screenshot of the acceptance email from the GWR, revealed plans to break the world record for the longest hours spent watching movies.

The Ekiti State Government also stopped plans by some people in the state to start a kiss-a-thon to beat the record of the longest time spent kissing.

Similarly, an Ibadan-based lady, Bojuri is currently competing to set a record for the longest braiding hours. Bojuri, who has spent 24 hours on the challenge, said she will set a record for the fastest hairstylist that finished 50 Ghana weaving in 72 hours.

But the GWR may have had enough of the pandemic as observed in its response to @livingwithajoke on Twitter. GWR wrote: “Please enough with the record-a-thons”.

It is time for people planning to further break records to get off GWR’s back. As it stands, the book is torn, if not to the world, to Nigerians.